Eyeglasses.



N. M BAKER.

EYEGLASSES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC; 30, 1908.

Patented Oct. 10, 1911.

? FIIEiZl. ,-a

i J 0 J 2 INVENTOR )VLZE'UN M 194K561 ATTORNE Y8 UNITED T OFFIQE NELSON M. BAKER, F SOUTHBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN OPTICAL COMPANY, OF SOUTHBRIDGE MASSl-sCHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MAS- SACHUSETTS.

\ EYEGLASSES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 10, 1911- Application filed December 30, 1908. Serial No. 470,033.

My invention relates to eyeglasses of either.

the rimmed or rimlcss variety and has more particularly to do with that type of glass in which the lenses arejoined by a relatively rigid bridge, while the guards, or portions intended to bear upon the wearers nose, are

pivoted upon the mounting and provided with projecting finger pieces or pads at the rear ends thereof which are adapted to grip the nose through the intermediation of a spring or springs operating upon these guards to bring them toward one another; such guards also are found convenient in practice for manipulation with the fingers when placing the glasses in position. The object of my invention is to provide a spring controlling these guards which shall be s' -nple to form, easy to place in position,

uno '"usi-ve in appearance, inexpensive to coninruct, and present a good appearance.

A further ob ect1s to provide a spring not requiring any exact size of stoclg, but in which slight tensional differences due to s1ze-.

of stock may be compensated for by corresponding diil erences in other dimensions of the spring.

A still further advantage of my spring is its adaptability to varyng styles and types of mount. f

My invention consists in certain generic constructions of the spring and its mounting, whereby a novel and useful spring action is secured and which provides a powerful but fairly uniform resistance to the movement of the gripping fingers through a considerablo angle of spread or opening, while, at the some time. using a minimum amount of stock and requiring only simple and inexpensive run-rations in the forming and attachment of the spring.

My invention will best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings in whiclv Figure 1 is an cnlur ed plan view of a pair of eveglasses fitted with a preferred i'orin of my improvement, the larger portion of each lens being broken away; Fig. 2

an elevation, part section, taken along the the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an enlarged front elevation of a pair of eyeglasses showmg each finger piece equipped with another and different form of my invention, while Figs. 4 and 5 are side elevations, partly in section, taken along the lines H and 5-5, respectively, of Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a greatly enlarged view of thatportion of the mountmg at which the levers Hare attached and shows a preferred mode of attachment.

Referring to the figures, A, A, are lenses connected together by a structure B com prising a bridge C provided at each extremity with perforated ears D, adapted to include and clamp the edge of the lens between them, and having points or projections E, E, included between the ears and at their base and extending in the plane of the lens on each side of said ears; these points are shaped to the edge curvature of said lenses so as to serve as an abutment therefor and, with the ears, to fixedly support-the lens.

Each extremity of the bridge proper just inside the points, E, is flattened above in a plane approximately at right angles to that of the lens so as to constitute a seat F; this seat isthreaded for the reception of a screw pivot. G, upon which is mounted a tubular washer H comprising a shoulder H and a shank H a. lever, H, which constitutes the grip by means of which the glasses are held upon the nose, is perforated to receive this shank and pivots freely upon it. These grips may be of any usual form andare or dinarily provided with pads I, fixed to the rearwardly extending extremities of the levers, and adjusted to lie along the length of the nose and to conform thereto when in gripping position. The forwardly extendmg extremities of these levers have the form of short arms J, generally bent outwardly approximately in theplane of the levers and so as to have an obtuse angle therewith.

To obtain the necessary grlpping effect with the above described levers, s rings, co operatin therewith and adapte to press eral y employed, and it is in the special form and arrangement of said springs that my present invention consists.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, which show the preferred form of my invention, the spring K consists of a suitable length of resilient wire having a loop or eye L at one end through which is passed the screw pivot ad ed endsthereof inwardly, are gen- Q g r 1,025,133

direction, inclining gradually and continuously to the rear and then .upwardl until 19 the end-remote fromthe loop is su ciently.

high to engage the lever arm H at a. In placing the springfan initial tension is given it so that the padded levers are always being pressed inwardly with a certain'amount of spring force, the levers being prevented 4 from actually passing inward beyond a certain-limit by the angular extensions or arms" J which will bring up against the front of the ears D.

20 The action of the spring is as followsi When the pads are pressed outwardly preparatory to gripping thenose, the inner upwardly extending side of the s ring will be pressed against bythe lever and will 235 bend throughout its length much as' it would were this side fixedly attached to the lens mounting at its bottom. Roughly, the spring tension thereby produced, is proportional to the-amount or angle'of bending given to the spring- In addition to this par-- ticular component of tension, however, there is another, torsional, component due to the twist which takes place insubstantially the entire downwardly extending portion of.

the spring lying between the eye L and its lowest pomt b, when the gripping'levers are pushed outwardl this latter componentof tensional force a so increases approximately in proportion to the angle of twist. Still a- 40 third element of tension is suppliedby the bending of the bottom portion of-the spring K considered as a sub ntially straight s ring, ae. by the bending of substantia 1y t at part of the] ring lying between the points 0 and def ig. 2 for example; here, again, the s ring resistance is appjpximately prgplortiona to the angle of hen g.

e analysis of the total spring ten im and its so aration into three com onents as above ma 0 is, of course, not-rigi 1y correct.

especially as to the limits withinwhich these several [components are effective Thus the angle of twist, in the second component above considered, continuously decreases from the supporting e e L downward but' lly becoin Z a es m, c nwhere said an le actua not be definit y stated. And as to 'the other two components, which are both of the order of plain bends rather than twists, it

'is quite as "diflicult to say where the exact point of support of the spring length under consideration actually is. Butsubstantially, the several spring actions are as stated. Carrying the analysistothe limit it is, of course, clear that'therej is still another refrom the eye 'silient-compone nt inasmuch as that'section of the spri which extends downwardly and which has already been referred to as suffering torsional twist, is also subjected to a certain direct bending as a spring fixed at one-end. But the total bendinghere involved is so small as to be negligible' In the last analysis, therefore,

the spring action is seen to be of a two-fold character :(1) the spring bends as a whole according to the laws pertaining to a resilient rod fixed at one end; and sections of the spring individually and se arately bend according to the same laws, t ese sectional bendings being superposed upon the maingo bending; and (2) a portion of the spring .acts torsionally according to the laws of a rod fixed at one end and subjected to a twist at the other end. Y i

As compared with the type of spring gem 5 erally used in the class of eyeglass mounts which we have been considering, which springs either bend without twist or twist without bend-I am enabled with my invention to obtain either a much more powerful spring action without increasing the dimansions of the spring or the same 3 ring action with reduced dimensions 0% the spring. In the latter instance, which will be the one usuall chosen, it is obvious that 5 my spring will c more compact and less obtrusive and, since reduced dimensions mean less weight of material, there will be in the case of mounts, made of precious metal such asgold and platinum, a material lessening of The left hand side of Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 shows a simple modification of my improved spring in which the spring, instead of gomg directly. downward from 1ts eye, L, as in F1gs.-1 and 2, is first carried up and then over and down; there is thus an upper loop M in addition to the previous lower loop N. But the elemental spring actions involved, are of exactly the same character as in the form of Fig I and Fig. 2. p

In the right hand side of Fig. 3 and in Fig.4, I have shown still a third form of spring differing only from that of Fig 4 in t e form of the lower half of the spring, in which the loop K has its limbs brought closer together, thus givifig room to terminate its ree end in a ri ht angle piece 0. But here again I have t e same elemental spring actions.

While I have described my improved sprin as being made from circular sec tione stock, and while I prefer such'section, I may, if I desire, choose any other convenient section such as oval, elliptical square, or otherwise; even a flat strip could be used, although in such case either special methods of forming the spring would be required or else certain initml twists would have to be given the ,st0ck in order that the 1 ed to each end of said mount, a loop shaped.

bending forces, as distinguished from the twisting force, might be exerted against the flat of the stock.

\Vhile I have shown my spring attached to the lens mount at the tubular washer H which also carries the lever'or finger piece H, I do not confine myself to such pointof attachment, but may select any other convenient place anywhere upon the mount and spring having a fixed end at the pivotal point and its other end free but resting resiliently and slidably against an arm of the finger piece, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. In an eye-glass comprising-a pair of lenses held by a relativelyrigid mount and provided with a movable finger piece pivoted to each end of said mount, a loop shaped spring having a fixed end at the pivotalpoint, an adjacent limb on one side of said fixed end and its other end free but resting resiliently and slidably against an arm of the finger piece upon the other side of the said pivotal point, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. In an eye-glass comprising a pair of lenses held by a relatively rigid mount and provided with a movable finger piece pivoted to each end of said mount, a loop shaped spring having a fixed end at the pivotal point, limbs upon each side of said pivotal point, and anouter' end free but resting resiliently and slidably against an arm of the finger piece, substantially as and for the purpose described.

4:. In an eye-glass comprising a pair oflenses held by a relatively rigid mount and provided with a movable finger piece pivoted'to each end of said mount, a loop shaped spring having a fixed end at the pivotal point, its other end free and resting resili ently and slidably against an arm of the finger piece and limbs between said two ends-but on opposite sides of the pivotal point,- substantially as and for the purpose described.

5. In an eyeglass comprising a pair of lenses held by a relatively rigid mount and provided with a movable finger piece pivoted to each end of said mount, a loop-shaped spring arranged across the plane of movement of the finger piecone end of said spring being clamped at the pivotal point and the other end lying across said finger piece in contact therewith and slidable lengthwise of said finger piece.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing wit nesses.

NELSON M. BAKER.

Witnesses:

E. E. SABIN, F. G. BnANoHAim.

meter at this patent may be obtained for ilvecents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

- Washington, D. G. 

